Happy 2015 everyone! Today, I’d like to introduce you to Cindy Brown! Head back on Thursday to read my review of MacDeath. Also, I want to hear what you think of the Promote an Author Tuesday posts! Do you want to see more of them? Do you want to see something else? Tweet me @authorteresaw, head over to my author page on Facebook, or leave a note in the comments section. Your feedback is important to me!

MacDeath

Like every actor, Ivy Meadows knows that Macbeth is cursed. But she’s finally scored her big break, cast as an acrobatic witch in a circus-themed production of Macbeth in Phoenix, Arizona. And though it may not be Broadway, nothing can dampen her enthusiasm—not her flying caldron, too-tight leotard, or carrot-wielding dictator of a director.

But when one of the cast dies on opening night, Ivy is sure the seeming accident is “murder most foul” and that she’s the perfect person to solve the crime (after all, she does work part-time in her uncle’s detective agency). Undeterred by a poisoned Big Gulp, the threat of being blackballed, and the suddenly too-real curse, Ivy pursues the truth at the risk of her hard-won career—and her life.

Questions with the Author

Is there a book you wish you had written? (Someone used “Harry Potter” as an example)

Charlotte’s Web – such humanity, humor, and heart in a seemingly simple story about friendship. “Some Pig,” indeed.

What is your favorite story about your childhood that the family tells over and over?

I was fascinated by stories of people surviving in the wild (and by Euell Gibbons, eating his way through a pine tree) and so was always building shelters, eating plants like horsetails, and making pots out of the clay I found on the creek bank. I even “ran away” once, not because I was upset, but because I’d read a story about a boy who lived in a hollow tree and I wanted to try it. I came home as soon as it got dark.

What’s on your bucket list?

I’d like to go to Cornwall, where my husband and I would visit Port Isaac, the village where they film Doc Martin (we are big geeky fans), explore the very cool and mysterious Lost Gardens of Heligan, and take in a show at the Minack Theatre, a beautiful open-air theatre that overlooks the sea. Barring that, I’d like to ride on a one-horse open sleigh (really).

Where would your main character go on vacation?

New York City, of course! Ivy would go to as many shows as she could afford, wait by stage doors for autographs, and time her trip so she could see free Shakespeare in Central Park.

What is the one thing you can’t live without? That one must have item?

Cheese. I love cheese (and maybe if I say this people will bring cheese to my book signings!). And on a more writerly note, I am the world’s worst typist so I am very fond of my dictation software.

About Cindy Brown

Cindy Brown has been a theater geek (musician, actor, director, producer, and playwright) since her first professional gig at age 14. Now a full-time writer, she’s lucky enough to have garnered several awards (including 3rd place in the 2013 international Words With Jam First Page Competition, judged by Sue Grafton!) and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Writers Workshop. Though Cindy and her husband now live in Portland, Oregon, she made her home in Phoenix, Arizona, for more than 25 years and knows all the good places to hide dead bodies in both cities.